Performance Study of a New MAC Algorithm to Reduce Energy and Delay in Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

In this paper we focus on the problems of high latency and low throughput arising from the periodic operation of MAC protocols for wireless sensor networks. In order to meet both design criteria we propose an energy-efficient, low-delay, fast-periodic MAC algorithm based on the IEEE 802.15.4 physical layer. Our proposal relies on the short periodic communication operation of the nodes comprising the WSN. This is achieved by decreasing the actions that a node needs to perform at the beginning of every communication period and by incorporating a variable radio-on operation. Moreover, the algorithm introduces differences in nodes’ scheduling to further reduce delay. The proposed MAC is evaluated and compared to S-MAC and T-MAC through extensive simulations, showing a significant improvement in terms of low energy consumption and average MAC delay